Katrina's legacy

The Sacramento region in the US has one of the lowest estimated flood protection levels compared with other river cities in the US because of the levees constructed. The Sacramento River Flood Control Project, originally authorized by Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1917, was built throughout the first half of the 20th century with a single objective, flood control. Today, the Central Valley is protected by a complex system of federal, state, and local flood control projects with numerous reservoirs, channels, levees, bypasses and related facilities. The Central Valley Flood Control Association is committed to working with the state to identify a set of flood protection and risk management goals for the Central Valley, which will allow everyone to make improvements together. Urban and rural communities as well as agricultural areas must all be considered in the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of investments for flood protection in relation to the system-wide performance and benefits.